BACK TO THE BOOKS FOR QIC EXECUTIVE

GOING back to university means a heavy workload for any high-flying executive, but for Queensland Investment Corporation’s (QIC) Susan Buckley, her MBA will mean a lot more than just the paper itself.

“It’s hard to juggle – you work on adrenaline sometimes when the deadlines creep up on exams. But when I finish a subject and look back on what I’ve learned, it gives me a lot of confidence with my work,” says QIC’s managing director for global fixed interest.

“I started in 2004 and deferred one or two times, doing about one and a half subjects per semester – it was to give me the skills to manage a team and manage money on behalf of clients.”

Buckley expects to complete her final MBA subject at the University of Queensland (UQ) in semester two this year, but will miss the helpful lecturers, the networking with other professionals and access to the online library.

“The result is that it’s given me a lot of confidence knowing how to apply the latest theories in many areas – coordinating the team, marketing, all of the subjects I took had a real world role. Without the MBA still in my mindset, I wouldn’t be able to think as broadly,” she says.

Buckley enjoys the literature-based academic discipline of UQ and has found many similar business issues with her peers, despite coming from different fields such as the industrial sector or HR.

“The other day I put together all the assessment I’d done over the years – there were about a dozen of them. It’s a great culmination of learning and jogs my memory of how to go about the different day to day aspects of business,” she says.

“I guess you begrudge the assessment, but at the end of the day it helps you learn, apply that knowledge in exams and finally apply it in your job too.”